Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

19th arrondissement

ABOVE: Buttes-Chaumont is one of the few parks
in Paris where you can picnic on the grass and, if you wish, bring your dog.

By Durant Imboden

Other Parisian parks are more
famous (and more visited by tourists), but the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont
may be the most distinctive--and romantic--park in the city. The park, which
replaced a gypsum quarry and execution ground, was begun in 1863 as the crowning
touch in Napoleon III's plan for green spaces throughout Paris.

The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont occupies 61 acres (25 hectares) of hilly land in
the 19th arrondissement, in the northeastern reaches of Paris. Its layout and
design owe more to engineers and landscape gardeners than to nature: The site
was carved out of the old quarries and slums with dynamite, then outfitted with
such romantic touches as waterfalls, a grotto, a lake, and a folly--the Temple
of Sybil--on top of a cliff with views of Montmartre in the distance. Unlike
formal Parisian gardens such as the Jardin des Tuileries, the Parc des
Buttes-Chaumont attempts to recreate nature (albeit an idealized version of
nature) in the style of a 19th Century English garden.

What to see: Take an hour or more to explore the park, and don't miss the
island in the lake with its clifftop views. (You can reach the island--and the
Temple of Sybil--via a short footbridge on the southern side of the lake.)

If you're hungry, you can lunch at Le Pavillon Puebla (closed Sundays and
Mondays, call 01 42 02 22 45 ) or--better
yet--assemble a picnic lunch at a bakery such as the award-winning
Boulangerie Véronique Mauclerc
(in the Rue de Crimée, just northwest of the park).

How
to get there: Two Métro stations are at the
edge of the park: Buttes-Chaumont and Botzaris on Line 7b. Another
station, Laumières, is a couple of blocks northeast of the park on Line
5.

If you don't mind a bit of walking, you can combine a trip to Buttes-Chaumont
with a St-Martin Canal cruise to or from the Bassin de la Villette (see inset
photo). Two companies, Paris
Canal and Canauxrama,
offer cruises of several hours at reasonable prices.